University of Toronto Students Organize Encampment for Palestine
At 4:00 am May 2, scores of University of Toronto (U of T) students set up an encampment on King's College Circle at the university to support Palestine and demand that U of T disclose its investments and divest from companies that supply the Israeli military -- companies that are engaged in a genocide against the people of Gaza and all Palestinians. In doing so they joined students across Canada, the U.S. and around the world.
On the evening of the same day more than 2,000 people including University of Toronto alumni, faculty and community members held a rally to support the just stand of the encamped students. Union members from the U of T faculty union, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Toronto local of the United Steelworkers, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and others took part in the rally as well as activists from Independent Jewish Voices and other organizations. Since the encampment began many community members have visited the students to provide food and other necessities and express their support.
In response to threats from the U of T administration which says that the encampment is illegal because it is on private property, the students point out that U of T is built on lands stolen from the Indigenous Peoples. The university administration has also tried in various ways to harass the student protesters including keeping floodlights at King's College Circle on throughout the night, shutting access to washrooms in nearby campus buildings and threatening to call in the police.
Dozens of U of T faculty have visited the camp every day to stand with the students in opposing genocide and upholding their right to organize politically and exercise their rights to conscience, assembly and expression. Deb Cowen, a professor from the Department of Geography and Planning and a member of the Jewish Faculty Network, stated that faculty wanted to be at the encampment "as a presence and [to] be visible for the students. We want to make sure that we're saying to the city, to the administration, and to the wider world, faculty support our students and faculty support the fundamental right of students to be here doing what they're doing."
(TML Correspondent, The Varsity)
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 32 - May 9, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54326.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca